Shadow Bones. Colleen Rhoads

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СКАЧАТЬ be better off to pool our resources,” Cameron suggested. He glanced around. “I know what you’re onto here.”

      Jake’s stomach tightened. He had to get rid of Cameron before he saw anything more. “Not going to happen.” Jake glanced at his watch. “I need to get back to work. You can find your own way off my site.”

      “If this really is a baby dinosaur nest, you need my help.”

      “I’m perfectly capable of making any discoveries on my own,” Jake said. He stared at Cameron until he shrugged and turned toward the path down to the truck. His assistant followed him. Jake joined his sister.

      “Is this going to be trouble?” Wynne asked. She handed him a sandwich. “It’s peanut butter. There’s milk in the Thermos.”

      Jake unwrapped it. “Might be. It’s a good thing I’m sleeping out here.”

      “Is he that desperate?”

      “That’s how he’s climbing the ladder—on the backs of other paleontologists. One of these days someone is going to kill him over it.”

      Wynne shuddered. “Don’t talk like that.”

      “It’s the truth. He’s a barracuda.”

      “But a cute one,” Wynne noted.

      Jake wrinkled his nose. “I thought you were over him.”

      “I am, but I’m not blind, either.” Wynne laughed and took a bite of her sandwich. “Maybe I should do a little hobnobbing with the enemy and see what he’s up to.”

      “I don’t want you within ten feet of that snake.” Jake looked in her face and saw the wheels turning. “No way, Wynne! Don’t even think about it. You’re not in the same league with him. He already discarded you once.”

      Wynne sniffed. “I can handle myself. I’m not a little girl, Jake.”

      “You won’t have time to waste on the likes of Reynolds.” Jake knew he’d get nowhere by ordering Wynne around. She’d always been the independent type. “Let’s get back to work.”

      She downed the last swallow of milk and crumpled the paper cup in her hand, then tossed it in the plastic trash bag. “Okay, lead on, fearless one.”

      Jake just hoped she’d forget about Cameron Reynolds.

      They worked all afternoon in the hot sun. The breeze they’d enjoyed earlier in the week seemed to have evaporated like Superior’s morning mist. The drone of insects and the scraping of their tools had a lulling effect on him, and he had to fight to keep his attention on the task at hand.

      About four, he hit something. Using his fingers, he carefully began to clean the spot away. The task was painstaking and tedious in the hard clay dirt. The hole widened. A few more minutes and he’d have the object free. By five, a large egg-shaped rock lay exposed. Jake tried to still the flutters of excitement in his belly as he saw other possible eggs under the top one. The find confirmed his hunch about the rounded shapes in the stones around him.

      “I think we’ve done it,” he said, settling in to dig up more and make sure.

      The bell tinkled on the door to The Sleeping Turtle. From her position on a ladder with herbs in her hands, Skye couldn’t see the customer. “I’ll be with you in just a minute,” she called.

      She heard quick steps and glanced around. Before she could tell who had come in, the ladder began to shake. Skye grabbed hold and hung on.

      “You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”

      Skye craned her neck and looked down. Tallulah Levenger, a frequent customer, gripped the ladder rails with both hands. Her brows drawn together, she looked savage. Her salt-and-pepper hair hung in strings around her face, and she was still dressed in her nightgown.

      Skye clung to the ladder with both hands. She felt dizzy and disoriented from the shaking. For a moment, she thought Tallulah would toss the ladder onto its side with Skye still attached. Poised on her right leg, Skye let go and leaped for the floor. Better to choose her own landing.

      She slammed to the wooden floor with a force that buckled her legs. Her knees stung from the impact with the hard wood, and a wave of pain radiated from her left knee. She groaned as she heard cursing behind her. She needed to get up and face whatever had caused this, but she found it hard to move, hard to think.

      She grabbed hold of a nearby table and staggered to her feet, wincing at the pain in her left knee. Holding out her hands in a placating manner, she tried to calm Tallulah. “Tallulah, what’s wrong?”

      The veins stood out in Tallulah’s neck. Her eyes were narrowed to slits. She advanced toward Skye. “You killed him!” She came at Skye’s neck with hands curled into claws, then leaped onto her, and they both tumbled to the floor.

      Skye could smell the unwashed odor that emanated from Tallulah. The woman’s breath stank as she grappled with Skye on the wooden floor. Tallulah’s hands tightened on Skye’s throat.

      The pressure made Skye gag, and she fought to catch her breath. She tried to pry the fingers loose, but Tallulah just pressed harder. Dark spots danced in Skye’s vision, and she gasped for air. She finally managed to pry one finger loose and bent it back until the woman released her.

      Skye rolled away and sprang to her feet. She put a table display of painted stones between them.

      Tallulah stood with her hands clenched. Her chest rose and fell in heaves. “Murderer! Witch! Those herbs you gave me didn’t work.” She started toward Skye again.

      Skye backed away. “Are you talking about Robert?” Her stomach roiled. Robert was dead? She shuddered. The teenager was one of her favorites, and she remembered the listless air he’d had when his mother brought him in. His coloring had been pasty as well.

      “You killed him.” Tears rolled down Tallulah’s face, and she covered her face with her hands.

      Skye wanted to comfort her, but she didn’t dare get too close. “Did you take him to the doctor like I told you? The herbs just enhance health, they won’t cure someone who is that sick.”

      “I don’t hold with doctors. If you’d given me the right herbs, he’d still be alive.” The bereaved mother wept and pulled on her hair. “It’s all your fault.” She started toward Skye, who moved to keep the table between them.

      “I gave you what you asked for, but I told you to take him to the doctor. What happened?”

      “A ruptured appendix, they say.” Tallulah’s face twisted with grief. “Then gangrene.”

      “Oh, no. I told you I thought it was his appendix.” Skye’s knees threatened to buckle. Could she have done more to save the boy? She’d begged Tallulah to take the teen to the hospital. Maybe she should have called someone.

      “Don’t try to blame me. It’s your fault. And I’m going to make sure you pay.” Tallulah bared her teeth, then turned and plunged down an aisle toward the door.

      Skye drew a deep breath when she heard the door slam. She reached out and grabbed the side СКАЧАТЬ